


Adoption Fee Sponsored

by CousinGreek



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Adoption, Gen, Shadow and his chao, Shadow's a new chao papa, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, absolutely adorable, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-13 22:01:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18949498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CousinGreek/pseuds/CousinGreek
Summary: A friend gave me the prompt: "A day in the life of Shadow's chao" and here it is.





	Adoption Fee Sponsored

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stripperlamb on tumblr](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=stripperlamb+on+tumblr).



If he was being fair with himself, Rouge was the one that dragged him to the sanctuary in the first place. She was the one that wanted a chao, and knowing how picky she could be, the process would take all day if they were lucky. The tiny sanctuary nearest to them held all chao types, but had an influx of little ones from a facility recently shut down due to negligence and less than optimal conditions. It made them both sick. Who would ever willingly disregard the well-being of something as innocent and helpless as a chao?

Rouge figured she could at least adopt one or two and lessen the load on their facility a bit. Shadow had no such desire.

Each tall, broadly caged room housed a variety of chao by type. In the largest room housed common neutral ones and the lesser populated room next to it held hero type chao. The dark chao room was abandoned just from looking into the viewing window. The story in the local paper revealed that quite a few of the creatures hadn’t made it, and with the dark variety being much less popular than their counterparts, it only made sense that the adoptable ones were few and far between.

Shadow took to roaming the different areas of the well-maintained building on his own. He watched prospective parents in a faux outdoor garden at the final stages of affirming their adoptions, looked into the different housing of special chao types, and even read up on the strict rules in place for housing the creatures. He heard enough from enthusiasts like Cream to understand how complex it was to take care of such complex creatures. Still, he couldn’t help but gravitate back toward the dark chao housing unit.

Of the bio-charts for each creature, there was only one for the only inhabitant. He read through it. A generated ID of random numbers, sex, weight, age, and other information proved it to be an unfortunate soul from the past sanctuary.

_‘This sweet dark chao is adoption ready! Don’t be turned off from his shy nature; this little boy loves to snuggle and babble and sing! Due to his past living situation, he unfortunately has a compromised immunity and some social deficits. All he needs is some extra love and attention to help him open up. Through generous funding of our team, this chao's adoption fee is sponsored and lowered to a quarter of the normal fee. Please help us find him a forever home!’_

The hedgehog slipped into the room, careful to take off his gloves and sanitize his hands before coming anywhere near the poor thing. He scanned over the enclosure to no avail. Maybe he had already been adopted? If he _was_ adopted, why not update his information? Perhaps he was out in the garden.

A small squeak came from underneath a play set. The further inspection had tugged at his heart like he hadn’t felt in years.

Curled up under a small blanket was a dark chao, staring up to him with tired eyes and his head still resting on his bed. Poor thing could barely keep his eyes open.

Shadow reached out to the small creature, careful not to startle it, and barely ran a finger over its head. The soft touch was rewarded with another weak squeak and Shadow made his decision.

* * *

Rouge was still in disbelief, walking along with her own new pet floating at her side as they rounded another block closer to the pet store.

“I can’t _believe_ you got a chao.”

The chao in question was comfortably curled in his new owner’s arms. Despite his quick all-or-nothing nature, he wasn’t one to usually make an impulse purchase, no less an adoption.

“He just looked so sad tucked in the back corner of a huge room all by himself. I couldn’t just leave him there to _die._ Dark chao are misunderstood to be mean or bad luck, but they’re quite sweet.”

Shadow wasn’t used to being the caretaker for any being, but he was determined to give the unnamed one the best life he could, monthly budget be damned. The two new parents made their way to the pet supply store and picked up new items they would need. While Rouge’s chao was happy to cling to a soft toy or treat, Shadow’s remained still tucked against his body. Encouraged interaction did little to stimulate him. The hedgehog picked out whatever he thought would be the most comfortable.

Setting his apartment up to be a chao haven was another story.

He managed to get in the door with his little one and bagged supplies in one trip and immediately composed a resting area. In the corner of his living room lay a blanket from Shadow’s own bed, a circle bed, a pile of plush toys, a food and water dish, and a small bathroom area he would move to a non-carpeted space later. For now, comfort and convenience were the ideal.

The dark chao was ready for a new life of luxury. Shadow settled him in and covered him with a blanket.

“This is yours now, okay?”

He got a weak gaze in reply after dropping some slices of fruit into his bowl along with specially purified water in another. Shadow pet his head and moved back to his bedroom.

“Take it easy. You’ve had a big day.”

* * *

Some of the fruit is gone by the next morning, thankfully. Shadow woke up bright and early to check on the newest addition to his home to see the dark chao curled up next to a bundled blanket. As he entered from the hallway, the small creature stirred with a whine.

“Hey…”

Shadow slowly dropped to his knees, still cautious to not startle the poor chao. He had some life in his glassy blue framed eyes, and the small bobble of spikes above his head was floating higher than in the sanctuary. He ran an ungloved hand across the carpet before his new pet to get its attention.

“I think I’ll call you Umbra. You like that name?”

He got a curious turn of the head in reply.

“I’ll take that as a yes. I have some work today, but I’ll be back soon.”

Throughout his morning routine, the chao remained in its plush bed. It had only closed its eyes since Shadow made himself a cup of coffee, took a shower, and ate breakfast. He pet the small creature a goodbye and made his way to the GUN headquarters.

His little one was all he could think of on his commute. Would he be alright by himself? What if he got into something and ended up needing medical care? If he wasn’t there to watch him, how could he be certain everything would go fine?

Umbra was in a different position in his bed, but still hadn’t moved when Shadow returned on his lunch break. All of his fruit was missing along with half of his water. As far as he could tell, his voiding was normal, so he was healthy in that aspect as well.

Progress was progress, no matter how small.

He took to fetching a bag of pumpkin seeds from his pantry and become level with Umbra.

“You wanna try something different?”

He held the roasted snack close to his chao’s muzzle and was delighted to watch him slowly accept it into his mouth and munch the small white rounds. Shadow snacked on them as well and offered more as Umbra finished the last.

He topped off his chao’s water dish and deposited more seeds and fresh blueberries for him to snack on as he left for the remainder of his work day.

To his horror, Umbra was nowhere to be found when he returned home for the second time. He called out to his chao, whistling and checking every couch cushion and kitchen cabinet he moved by. Fearing the worst, he checked all windows to find them locked tight. The linen closet was empty, the bathroom showed no trace, and his bedroom was bare.

He was a horrible father and he only had the chao for one day. How would he explain this to Rouge? How could he be so irresponsible and let his first and only pet out of sight? Just as he was preparing to call his partner and recruit her for the search party, his ear twitched as it picked up on a noise. He followed the trail of small breaths until lifting the portion of his duvet over the head of his bed.

There he was. Resting peacefully between both pillows, the adorable culprit laying on his back and dreaming away as if Shadow wasn’t worried sick to his stomach.

Usually, the thought of another animal or creature resting on something he cushioned his face with disgusted him and would warrant an immediate washing of its cover, but he could let it slide this time. Instead, he took to his usual side of his bed and rubbed the meeting between the chao’s back and one of its wings.

Umbra was out of sight when morning came. He hated to admit he was panicking again, but Shadow couldn’t help the pounding in his chest as he hurried to look around the house like last night. To his relief, the little one was curled back in his own bed under his blanket, slowly opening his eyes to gaze longingly to his parent.

“You gave me quite the scare last night.”

Shadow moved to eat breakfast next to his new friend that morning. After placing a few peach slices in his bowl, Umbra was much quicker to nibbling on the food and waking up for the day.

* * *

Work that day in particular was stressful. Not only had he brought home reports to complete, but he came back sporting a few new injuries. They’d heal quickly thanks to his energy, but the soreness of his ribs was hard to ignore as he hunched over the folders strewn about his kitchen table. Rouge had managed to escape gunfire of enemy territory with only some minor scrapes and one clean shot through the leg, but he still wasn’t welcoming the idea of her spending the night in GUN’s infirmary. Paperwork was her job, typically. The least Shadow could do was finish it for her.

It wasn’t like him to be this careless on a mission. The sharp pain that came with each inhale suggested a broken rib, and the dull throbbing of his ankle was no doubt due to a sprain. The Ultimate Lifeform was immune to all disease, was strong enough to lift meteors and tanks, could withstand bullets to a degree, but nothing stopped him from common pains that came with the job. His torso was on fire, his neck was stiff, his skin was deeply bruised under his fur. He wondered how Sonic dealt with his injuries. The blue pain in the ass no doubt had suffered from aches after some battles, but he was quick to walk it off and roll with the punches.

He ignored his body screaming at him and resorted to icing his propped up ankle and getting to work.

Halfway into a report on behalf of his team’s noted injuries, something bumped into his chair. Umbra had managed to float into the kitchen undetected to look up curiously to his papa.

“You came all the way in here for me.” Shadow smiled.

He watched as the dark chao summoned all the strength his tiny body would hold to float up and rest on the table next to the papers. This was another situation akin to allowing for a chao to be in his bed with him, but he let it go. He didn’t have the energy to care at the moment.

Umbra watched his hand move across each line of the paper’s descriptive field.

"Not very exciting is it?”

Shadow continued to work for the next half hour, page after page, stapling batches together and highlighting critical details for the commander to review. Another bump got his attention, this time accompanied by a whine. His chao was becoming restless and fidgeting at his side.

“Do you want to get down?”

As if to reply, Umbra babbled and lifted his arms. Shadow scooped him up to hold him as usual only to be fought against.

Surprises rarely caught him off guard, but this time, Shadow was stuck with bewilderment. His tiny, sick chao, stood in his palms and softly placed his arms across Shadow’s torso, nuzzling into his patch of white fur.

Something suddenly hurt in Shadow’s chest. It felt like his heart was straining to beat, or it was squeezing too hard. Umbra continued to babble into his chest and the feeling continued to gain intensity. His eyes began to sting like they hadn’t in years. Putting down his pen, he gently embraced the creature back and closed his eyes.

“You’re very sweet, little one. Thank you.”

Umbra pulled away to float to the stool his leg was resting on and draped himself over it, nodding off once again and leaving Shadow with that strange sense of heaviness in his body. He took to finishing the rest of the files and stowing them away in a locked container for transport tomorrow. The two of them relocated to his bedroom and took their places for the night. Instead of claiming his own pillow, Umbra was more than delighted to burrow himself into his owner’s hold and babble quietly until they both nodded off.

Shadow was beginning to feel better already.


End file.
